Lamingtons

Lamingtons are a traditional Kiwi sweet treat, often eaten at afternoon teas or during special celebrations.  They are equally famous in Australia, and both countries lay claim to their origin.  It is generally agreed, however, that the cakes were named after Lord Lamington (born 1860, died 1940) who visited New Zealand before taking up the position of Governor of Queensland.  He later became Governor of Bombay, before returning home to England.

Essentially, lamingtons are cubes of sponge cake coated in a jelly-icing and rolled in desiccated coconut.  This “icing” is normally chocolate or raspberry flavoured, but adventurous cooks have produced different flavours by using different flavours of jelly crystals (Jello). 

For a special treat for afternoon tea today, I had a raspberry one.  It was delicious with my cup of Twining’s Lady Grey tea!

Raspberry Lamington for afternoon tea

Mine was bought at the supermarket, but they are fairly simple to make yourself.  The following is a recipe from New Zealand’s Chelsea Sugar Refinery (found online at https://www.chelsea.co.nz/browse-recipes/raspberry-lamingtons/ ).  I have made these before, although quite a long time ago, and the cubes can be cut as small or as large as you wish.  I normally use a purchased trifle sponge and cut it into smaller squares, then serve each with a blob of whipped cream on top and a small dab of red jam dropped onto the centre.  Larger cubes are often halved and filled with whipped cream, as mine was today.  They can also be eaten plain without the cream and/or jam, although larger ones can sometimes be a little dry as the proportion of sponge to icing is too great.

This is the Chelsea Raspberry Lamingtons recipe found online:

INGREDIENTS:

1 plain sponge cake (homemade or store-bought)

50g butter, melted

3 tablespoons raspberry jelly crystals

3 cups Chelsea Icing Sugar

1/4 cup boiling water

3 cups of desiccated coconut

METHOD:

Cut the sponge cake into approximately 20 small squares.

Mix the jelly crystals and icing sugar together and add boiling water and melted butter.  Stir until smooth, adding a little extra water if required, to make a thin, pourable icing.  Dip each sponge square into the icing.  Sprinkle with the coconut and dry on a piece of baking paper spread on a wire rack.

Serve the lamingtons with fresh raspberries and softly whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

Tip:  use two forks for the rather fiddly job of slipping the sponge into the icing.  Sometimes it’s easier to pour the icing over the sponge held on a fork;  however, practice does make perfect.

When making chocolate lamingtons I used a very runny plain chocolate butter icing and it seemed to work okay.

Happy eating,

Margaret